Another way of making an open water swimming goal for 2012 is to set yourself a distance target. If your longest swim to date is out to Sandycove Island and back, why not work up to a lap? Or if you’ve done a lap, why not aim to do a double lap this summer?

You can also use the 3/5/9 km list as your target. On this list, we keep track of swimmers who have completed 3km, 5km and 9km swims each year and whether the swims were in wetsuit or togs. This marks personal achievements, but is also very important for swim organisers so that they can check if someone meets the qualification requirements for their swim. It also allows swim organisers to target people who have completed a particular distance. For example, someone organising an 8km swim event might only want to send out an invite to anyone who has previously completed at least a 5km swim, so they can use the 5km list for that purpose.

If you are not currently on the list, why not aim to do a 3km swim this year to get yourself on there? And if you’ve already completed a 3km swim, why not try to get onto the 5km or 9km list in 2012?